Cameras in the Courtroom

Martin Wallenstein

Almost since their invention, and certainly since their incorporation into news reporting, the use of cameras in the courtroom has raised issues concerning the public's right to know and a defendant's right to a fair trial. Specifically, the First Amendment right to free press and public assembly at times seem to clash with the Sixth Amendment right to a fair and public trial and the Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. In general, courts have tried to balance these conflicting interests. Of course, television cameras have long been used in the courtroom for purposes other than broadening the audience for trials. Videotaped confessions, for example, have a long history of use in court. With the widening popularity of camcorders, video has also come into courts as evidence, such as in the Rodney King case. New Jersey and other states have put camcorders on police cars as protection against possible police ...

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